Tag: Weird Shit

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Something I never thought I’d say…

I suppose there are a lot of those things.

In this particular case, it’s I’m happy with how long my computer battery lasts. I’m also somewhat impressed with the iPad battery too.

The computer is insane. I’ll use the thing for days. I’ll be surprised when I get a low battery warning and then think, “Oh Yeah, it’s been a while!” This is very different from the older machines I’ve had. I lived by their power monitors and always carried spare batteries or adapters.

I’m still working on settings on the iPad to minimize its power consumption. My Computer and iPad both use the M2 chip but the iPad is more in line with a day or day and a half of use. I think that’s because there are background applications that wake up or are running on the iPad that aren’t as “busy” on the computer.

I believe I can probably trim more of the iPad background applications out of the background and realize more power savings.

The point is, when I started using laptop computers years ago, a 2 hour battery life was considered good. Now I’m talking about 2 day battery life between charges. I’m using the machine as I normally would, I’m typing blogs, surfing the net, working on stories, (although not fast enough there,) attending video conferences or watching lectures. Through it all, the computer doesn’t seem to care or get winded. I don’t think I’ve heard the fans come on, ever.

For the first time I’ll leave the house with my machines in my brief case and leave the chargers behind.

I suppose this is on my mind because today the computer asked for a bit of power. I plugged it in, and it said okay I’m charging to 80% quickly. (That would have actually gotten me through my typical day with ease.) The computer then switched over to a holding pattern at 80% and will finish charging by about 1:30PM.

This means that the machine has figured out my general habits and is using the charging feature Apple designed to extend battery life. It’s cool. I can override it if I want, or need to, but why? I’d rather have a battery that’s healthy in two or three years (like my iPhone 12 Pro) than force the issue. Besides, I’m using the big monitor in the office. I like this monitor a lot but I like working with the computer on the back deck more.

For the past 24 hours the wind has been kicking up to crazy gusty levels. I don’t feel like sitting out on the deck in all the blowing dust and pollen. Even though the sun is shining and the temps are nice.

It’s been all I could do to keep my sinuses open and the poor dog literally snorted a patch of pollen he thought was a food wrapper (I think). He’s been sneezing 5 or 6 times at a go for the past two days. I laugh at him… Then he saunters down the hall trying to look dignified, until another sneezing fit hits and he sneezes himself into a wall or something. My continuing to laugh gets me a dirty look and he retires to his “Room” where he can be alerted about food but doesn’t have to look at me.

All of which is to say that the amount of pollen in the air is so high that getting it into a keyboard would not be such a good thing. So I don’t need to be sitting outside for my sake, the keyboard’s sake, or the dog’s sake. All of us are quite comfortable inside.

I’ve got the leeward side of the house open for the fresh air but every once in a while the wind will shift just for a minute or two and blow a new batch of yellow joy into the house.

I was originally going to use a photo of my hand but when I looked at the photo I realized that you could easily see all of my fingerprints. Probably not a great idea to broadcast that kind of biometric information across the internet! With a little work I could convert the image into usable prints, so you get the swiffer. If the FBI ever needed non carbon fingerprint dust, I can recommend pine pollen.

I hope you all have a nice Monday. I’m hitting the sinus spray again!

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Why was it wrong when I said it?

I’m not sure, but I think hell froze over. John Kerry said something that I agreed with.

He says there are too many humans.

I’ve been saying that for years, but when I said it and offered solutions everyone was aghast.

When I asked why we were worried about COVID and suggested that it might be a natural culling of the weak genetics in our species, I was called cruel. When I’ve questioned our interference in natural processes by preserving the lives of, and allowing genetically damaged people to reproduce I’m called a NAZI!!!

But John Kerry saying that 10 billion people on Earth by 2050 is unsustainable and it’s the gospel from on high.

The difference I suppose is that John Kerry says it while flitting about on his private jet, drinking his water from unsustainable plastic bottles, and demanding all the rest of us live down in the mud.

I’d happily put the majority of mankind at my feet living in the mud. Why does John Kerry get all the fun?

To give you an idea what I think of the large majority of humanity, consider this.

If I could figure out how to sell 4/5ths of humanity into slavery to an alien race I’d do it. Family and friends and people who have brains, common sense, or awesome genetics, would of course be exempt.

The truly vile people, I’d sell to alien brothels because I’m a tad vengeful. Politicians and lawyers should get on their knees every day and beg God almighty that I never figure out how to send a galactic garage sale notice.

My price would be this. I’d want a comfortably sized, well armed, faster than light spacecraft, a prepaid credit card (or alien equivalent) to buy supplies and fuel that was good as long as I lived, and lastly treaties that placed our planet and entire solar system in a protected status. I’d want to give the humans left a chance to evolve into something better. I’d like to see humanity reach its potential.

Yep, that’s my price. Dirt cheap if you think about it.

The cruelty is on par with the global elites methods. My way, it’s possible that a slave could earn their freedom and be returned to Earth, significantly wiser.

While John Kerry says, the powerful governments need to address ways to provide for all the mouths to feed. The elites already know the answer. They already have plans in place. The logic is irrefutable, a whole lot of people need to to not be here. Either they’re exported off world to colonize the Moon, Mars, and beyond or they have to die.

I think this is why the global elite class seems to be intent on endless wars, internal strife, fomenting racial hatred, starvation, loss of livelihood, reduction of farmland or farmland productivity, and the degradation of mankind.

When Kerry, or people like him speak, I hear, “Us pissing on your heads is a lovely warm yellow rain. Don’t worry ‘mudboy’, in no time you’ll all be remembering fondly the halcyon days of yellow rain”

I honestly believe if Kerry and his ilk could “Thanos” the planet they would in a heartbeat. It’s possible that the only reason they haven’t put half the planet to the sword, is they’re uncomfortable with a completely random selection process and instead are trying to pick & choose.

If they’re working on choosing, my suggestion is to start with the individuals who have the largest personal carbon footprints.

I keep thinking, if Kerry is really committed to saving the planet he’ll be the first person to try a suicide booth.

Come on, we all know it’s coming.

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All I wanted was to listen to music…

Riiiiight!

I pulled a thread, and now none of the smart lights in the house are working. The security camera is also offline. I managed to kill the battery in my phone about 5 PM.

As Mr. Scott once said, “The more complicated the plumbing, the easier it is to clog up the works!”

This is what happens when you have a “smart house”

I have no clue exactly what the hell is going on. But I’ve done factory resets on my router, and all the smart light bulbs. I’ll be factory resetting the HomePod Minis, the Apple TVs and the Big HomePods.

I’ve been playing whack a mole. I’d get the lights working, then move on to the next thing that was broken, and boom the lights stopped working. Then I’d fix a light and something else would suddenly go offline.

It’s the darnedest thing.

For those of you wondering why I’m mistrustful of AI, here’s a perfect example why i don’t trust AI and think all AI systems should have a kill switch! That switch should be something totally mechanical that can’t be programmed around. Possibly augmented by a very large Axe.

None of the stuff at my house is particularly complex but something is running through the devices like a horseman of the apocalypse.

I’m thinking that I may have to power down then reset each and every device in the house to factory default then add them back one at a time.

I’m also thinking that I’ll need to delete the house from all the HomeKit enabled stuff.

By the time I’m done with this, chasing this problem around and around the house will have cost me 2 days. I started farting around with this Bullshit at 8am yesterday morning. I was listening to music, then suddenly there was no stereo. I asked the question, “Why?”

Before I knew it, I’d been consumed, as had my day. I actually had other things that I’d planned on doing yesterday none of which I got done except the laundry…

It’s also a good thing that I didn’t have any video I need to preserve. Because the security camera has been removed and re added to the home controls twice and will require the procedure again. Each time, any recorded video stored in the cloud is erased.

Totally brilliant bit of software engineering there. Another interesting feature is this, If the camera is offline in the Apple Home application then you can’t even look at video that’s recorded in your iCloud. So once the camera goes away and requires that you delete it and re-pair you’ve lost anything and everything stored for the last 30 days anyway.

I’ll be looking at a different paradigm for cameras in the future.

What’s the point of having the data recorded but completely inaccessible due to some silliness caused by a software update. Isn’t that the point of storing videos in the cloud???

Apparently, I’ve missed a memo somewhere.

Here’s the update. Flushing everything seems to have worked. I now have music throughout the house again and the smart lights are working. This was definitely the brute force method of solving the problem. I’m sure that it will reoccur at some point in the future.

That cynicism comes from experience with technology. Even if you’re not the one fiddling around with the devices, there’s always someone in development who’s tweaking a line of code here or there. Then someone else decides that a software update is necessary, or some scumbag hacker takes advantage of a security flaw and causes an update. One way or another, something is going to change and your nice stable system will be completely hosed.

I’d really like to be able to bill for the time lost to SPAM Email and all the software update related issues. The folks I’d like to bill are the little scumbag hackers, or their parents, or their countries of origin.

Well on with the rest of the day.

Have a great weekend